Slots and sushi

The Harrah’s “Bright Lights, Big City” slot tournament pulled in 500 players from around the country with a $20,000 prize pool and $5000 top prize.

This was ostensibly the reason for my Las Vegas trip, and I don’t know any other place of employment that would accept “slot tournament” as a valid reason to take time off from work.

Checking in via Diamond Registration was a breeze. Of all the casinos — Strip, off-Strip, downtown — my favorite is Harrah’s because of how close the parking garage is to registration, hotel elevators, 24-hour Starbucks, and the Diamond Lounge.

Without asking, they placed me in room 2501, the closest room to the elevator. With hotel hallways being a block long, elevator proximity is important.

My view was nice.

Made nicer by a view of the pool.

The couch was comfortable and no coins were found beneath the cushions. While checking, I found some Cheerios and discovered the couch was a sofabed.

The tournament registration line was long, divided into A-L and M-Z. A-L was 20-people deep; M-Z was empty. Seven Stars members could jump to the front of the line. I would never attempt chasing Seven Stars (100,000 tier points/$500,000 playthrough in one year), but Harrah’s always dangles the carrot of the next level up to tempt you.

They gave me a $25 food voucher good at any of the Harrah’s-owned restaurants (which doesn’t include Starbucks) and a tournament badge that showed my times were 10 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. Not bad, and being in the hotel I could just roll out of bed, play my session, then head back to bed. A worse time would be in the afternoon, because I’d feel confined to the hotel until then (which of course is their goal).

It was J’s last day in Vegas, and we headed to Sushi & Sake at Green Valley Ranch for the all-you-can-eat, made-to-order sushi from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday through Thursday for $32.99.

The previous night we also took in the sushi with a goal to surpass $300.

“For Sparta,” I toasted in our girly Pacific Breeze martinis before beginning to check off items.

Previous visits had us stuffed at the $250 mark, but we were determined to break our record. We had the same server who remembered J from a year ago, and she didn’t even groan when she saw us. We had tipped well then and had asked her if anyone else had eaten as much as we did. She said no. That was the $250 meal, and little did she know we’d be pushing for $50 more. Inflation and all.

Out of the gate, six orders of ecstasy (seared tuna) at about $18 a pop gave us a running start. It was the most expensive item on the menu, and the most delicious.

We easily reached $300, with a couple more orders to put us at $321 because I’d wanted our buy-in to be 5 percent each of the total value of the meal.

Feeling a bit guilty for the constant attentiveness by our server who made over a dozen trips serving us dishes, I ordered dessert which wasn’t part of the all-you-can-eat.

From a bet I won last year in a last-longer tournament, J paid. J says he comes to Vegas for two reasons: because of me and because of this sushi. If he was paying for dinner, he wouldn’t have minded it being on sushi.

He tipped the server well and separately tipped the three sushi chefs that we had working the entire two hours we were there (they limit you to a one-hour timeframe, but have never enforced it).

Now, the next day, we were back. This time with three new sushi chefs and a new server. We didn’t keep a running tally, just eating what we enjoyed, and even going for the tempura which isn’t a good idea when jockeying for a personal all-you-can-eat record.

Completely stuffed, we headed to Rio and saw some strange UFOs that turned out to be a formation of tour helicopters.

After grabbing drinks and dessert at the Diamond Lounge (though more comfortable with a view of the swimming pool, Rio’s free food isn’t as good as the other Diamond Lounges), we rode the elevator to the top floor and relaxed in perfect outdoor weather at the VooDoo Lounge, which offers the best view of Las Vegas.

I was wearing the same shorts from Cheetah’s, and the VooDoo entry blacklight revealed the splotches that stripper Alyssa had left.